My Tournament Results and Reflection on Wolves

[Mr. Bleak]

 Hey guys, I went to a tournament called The Gentleman's Grand Tournament at Rock-Con this weekend, and thought I'd give you a rundown of my list and results and talk a bit about Wolves, which I'm still pretty new to. The tournament was 5 games over 2 days at 1750 pts. I took Space Wolves with Allied Imperial Guard. Here's my list:

 

Rune Priest, Runic Armor, Plasma Pistol (because WYSIWYG) Jaws and Living Lightning 

9 Grey Hunters, Standard, Wulfen, 1x Plasma, Drop Pod

10 Grey Hunters, Standard, Wulfen, 2x Plasma, Drop Pod

10 Grey Hunters, Standard, Wulfen, 2x Melta, Drop Pod

6 Long Fangs, 5x Missile, Rhino

6 Long Fangs, 5x Missile

 

Company Command Squad, Carapace Armor, Astropath

10 Veterans, 3x Plasma, Carapace Armor

10 Veterans, 3x Plasma, Carapace Armor

2x Vendetta Gunship

 

Game 1 vs Dark Mechanicus (Grey Knights)

Opponent took Coteaz, an Inquisitor, a unit of Crusaders and Death Cults with the Inquisitors in a Land Raider Crusader, he took two squads of 4 Henchmen (1 Banisher 3 Acolytes each) in Land Raiders, and he took two squads of 3 Acolytes (1 flamer in each) in Storm Ravens with Multi-Melta and Assault Cannon. Totally wasn't prepared for 3 Raiders, and when I missed with my Melta guns turn one (had melta's and dual plasma's drop down on an isolated Land Raider) and had two full Hunter squads out in the open, I knew it was over. I tried to blitz glance the Raiders to death with Las and Missiles but my opponent played really well and managed to neutralize a whole squad of Long Fangs turn 2 and hid behind LOS blocking terrain to avoid the other squad. I got picked apart the whole game, only killed one Raider and one Raven, killed Coteaz's retinue and most of the other Acolytes but I ended up losing big. Fun game, not a whole lot I think I could have done different. 

 

Game 2 vs. Eldar 

I had never played the new Eldar prior to this game. He was playing a Footdar list with a Spirit Seer, Avatar of Khaine, 10 Wraithguard with Wraithcannons, 8-9 Harlies, 2 units of 20 Guardians with Warlocks, 10 Dire Avengers, 6-8 Pathfinders, 3 War Walkers. Primary mission was to kill the enemies most expensive unit, secondary table quarters, tertiary is Slay/Linebreak/First. Long story short I focussed on the Wraithguard and despite getting terrible scatters on my drops, I ended the game having killled all the Wraithguard, the Harlies, the War Walkers, and a unit of Guardians. I got full points for the game. 

 

Game 3 vs Grey Knights

He had Coteaz, an Inquisitor, 2 Monkeys and several Death Cults with them in a Bastion with Icarus, he had 4 min squads of Acolytes with Psybolt Assault Cannon Razorbacks, a Psyfleman Dread, and two Dreadknights with teleporters and heavy incinerators. My dice went cold this game. To draw the game, all I had to do was kill 1 Acolyte with 3 twin linked lascannons, and kill 2 Acolytes with a different 3 twin lascannons. All of them were standing out in the open. I failed to hit with every single twin linked shot, and lost in a massacre. It was a frustrating game, but still well played by my opponent, and I shouldn't complain. 

 

Game 4 vs Eldar

I wasn't dissapointed to be playing Eldar again because this guys list was completely different. He took a Farseer with a unit of 10 Storm Guardians in a Bastion with Icarus (also had a dedicated Wave Serpent), two units of 3 War Walkers, three units of 6 Dire Avengers in Wave Serpents, a Night Spinner, and a squad of 7 Warp Spiders. Mission was to kill 5 marked units, control the center 12" of the board (Hammer and Anvil Deployment). We tied on the primary as we killed all of eachothers marked units, but I ended with control of the center and more tertiary's. In the end all he had was his group in the Bastion and half his Warp Spiders, I had a Vendetta, a squad of Veterans, a squad of Hunters, and two small squads of Hunters. Overall a big win for me, he deployed against the back edge and I dropped enough Marines down to destroy his Night Spinner and a Wave Serpent and block him up pretty good. Good game, I got full points, a lot of fun

 

Game 5 vs Orks

He had a Warboss with 3 Meganobz in a Battlewagon, a Big Mek with 15 Lootas in a Battlewagon, 15 Burna Boyz in a Battle Wagon, 19 Shoota Boyz, 4 units of 10 Grotz, 3 Kannons, and 2 Deffkoptas. I killed everything except for the Grotz, 3 Lootas, the Big Mek, and 1 Deffkopta. I lost because my opponent clocked me out. I didn't realize it until the top of 4. Every other game, I had finished with at least a half hour left and had gone through every turn fully. This game ended in the top of 4, and I was more than a little miffed. Draw. 

 

So I finished 2-2-1, middle of the pack. I had a great time, a lot of great opponents, I intend to return next year. 

 

 

So the Space Wolves. They were the real heavy lifters in my list, and I am very happy with how they played. My game 4 opponent put it very well; the Drop Pods of Hunters really put immense pressure on early, and the hardiness and versatility of the Grey Hunters keeps that pressure on constantly. The Long Fangs just dump fire by the bucketload, and really forced a tough decision: shoot at the Long Fangs that are pumping out 10 Missiles a turn, or fire at the Grey Hunters in your face. I think I chose the best Ally for this list to deal with flyers and add more plasma, but I'm thinking of switching one of the squads to Melta after that 3 Land Raider ordeal. I guess what I'm trying to say is that although a lot of hardcore tournament players are moving to the new Xenos armies, I really think Space Wolves still have their place in the tournament halls. I'm considering going all Space Wolves with no allies as an experiment: I'd swap the 650 points of Guard for an Aegis Line with Quad Gun, Rune Priest in Runic Armor (Divination), 10 Grey Hunters with Wulfen, Standard, and 2x Flamers, and Pod, and 6 Long Fangs with 5 Lascannons. 

 

What are all of your thoughts on Space Wolves in the tournament environment nowadays? I had a great time with mine, and didn't do too badly either, especially considering this was my first tournament of 6th edition. 

[SamaNagol]

Space Wolves are still great, the Rune Priests help with certain parts of the meta and with good allies you can fill in the holes of the list.

 

I feel however they still suffer from bad match ups and probably will find it difficult to win a 6 game tournament without a fortuitous draw.

 

At 1750 I would definitely look at adding Wolf Guard to the list. You can take 10 and attach one each with TDA and Cyclones to the Long Fangs, then put another 2 in TDA with Axe and Combi in the units with the Rune Priests. That leaves a nice 6 man squad you can load up with Combi and drop into the enemy lines.

 

You may have points left for another 10 man Grey Hunters squad.

[Rift Blade]

Agree with Samanogol-add WG. Another suggestion, give your LF pods & deploy them empty. Gives you 5 pods 3 of which come in straight away. Lets you hammer those opponents on 1st turn when you need or play flexibly by dropping in 2 empty pods on turn one till you see what your opponent is doing. Kinda of a bummer about running out of time against the ork player. I've had the same issue with Orks & nids to. They usually have so many models at the start that you're almost guaranteed to run out of time. Did you just drop in behind the Wave Serpents to kill them?